The Importance Of Birthdays
by Redrose001
Summary: Legolas has never celebrated a birthday as it is not a part of Elvish tradition, once his friends here about this situation his friends decide to make him experience a birthday for the first time.


Legolas's age was never brought up in conversation during their time traveling, and neither was his birthday. Being honest there was no reason to talk about birthdays in the fellowships time of traveling to get the ring destroyed, as being honest every member of the fellowships mind was far more occupied with the thoughts about protecting Frodo and the ring and for Sam who was more concerned about Frodo and life at the Shire if they managed to return in one piece. Besides Frodo hadn't spoken about birthdays because he had somewhat lost some fondness for them especially after Bilbo's one hundred and eleventh birthday party, as that had set them on this quest, and it had just seemed rather cruel to bring up Bilbo's party for Frodo or just the matters of birthdays after what had happened that had lead the hobbits onto an adventure that they had never thought that they would ever have to participate in.

Once the ring had been destroyed and the quest that the fellowship had been on had once ended, those matters of celebrating life had started to get mentioned again. The fellowship had broken up due to the fact that they had no reason to be in a group together and the ties of friendship that they once had had somewhat loosened over the time after the ring had been destroyed. However despite the fellowship going into separate ways, they would return to be together for at least a few times every now and then, just to celebrate the lives of the friends that were made during years of adventuring. Pippin and Merry had quietly celebrated their birthdays in The Green Dragon, and the night had ended up with two hobbits dancing on top of the table and singing loudly, while Sam had spent the evening talking happily about his garden to a giggling Rosie Cotton as she fiddled with the ribbons in her hair. Frodo had spent some time at The Green Dragon but he had ended up going home after a few drinks as his book was needing some attention on it as he had left it neglected on his table for a few days. Despite the fact that he was a king and most definitely had far more important matters to attend to, Aragorn had made his way to The Green Dragon and had sat in the corner, shaking his head in amusement at the antics of his former traveling companions while he smoked his pipe, laughing loudly when Gimli had engaged the elf into another drinking contest, and had been defeated by the elf once more and Legolas only walked out of The Green Dragon that evening with a slight tingling in his fingers while Gimli had been carried out as he had been shouting about hairy dwarven women.

Soon enough the days melted into months and the anniversaries of the members of the fellowships birthdays had passed in a mixture of rather loud or quiet affairs. Gimli son of Glorin's birthday was a massive feast that lasted three days with so many barrels of drink that it made the hobbits think of the story of Bilbo and the dwarves hiding in the barrels and managing to escape from the Elvenking with them. But when Sam had told Legolas that story, Legolas spent some time protesting about his father's involvement in the act and this had led to an argument with the dwarf about the story about the barrels that led to an argument that was soon resolved by a drinking contest that Gimli had won-mostly because Legolas had decided to show some compassion for the dwarf and claimed that he 'felt a tingling in his fingers,' after only having three drinks.

When it came to the celebration of Samwise's birthday, the fellowship had spent the day in the Shire lying around on the grassy hills in the heat of the sun as they watched Sam potter around in his garden for the day. And once the day had finished and Sam had decided that the garden that he was working on was close enough to being perfect-the only thing that was preventing it from being so, was the lack of a permanent display of Gandalf's fireworks that would blast out fireworks every hour on the dot like a large clock-however this idea was soon neglected due to Legolas's concern about the trees and the wildlife in the area and how the trees would surely dislike being close to fireworks-there was a large birthday party for Sam that was led by the other hobbits, this party that Sam had wouldn't compare to Bilbo's birthday parties due to the fact that there was a lack of Bilbo in them and Bilbo's parties had been the talk of the Shire and when there was word of a birthday party going to happen-there would be hobbits at Bilbo's large green door waiting for a personal invitation to his birthday party or they would be anxiously waiting at their letter boxes for their invitation. Despite the fact that the party wasn't to the standard that Bilbo had left for parties, Sam still seemed to be having a good time and even Frodo seemed to be smiling more than he had been in a long time. And his smile only seemed to grow even wider when Sam had gone up to Rosie Cotton and had asked her for a dance and that had led to Sam's face turning bright red when Rosie had place a kiss on his cheek and Merry, Pippin and Frodo had cheered loudly for him.

During the party Legolas stood at the side lines with Aragorn who was more occupied in his pipe and the piece of parchment in front of him than with celebrating the party, but he would occasionally look up from the parchment to let out a chuckle at the hobbits-especially Merry and Pippin who seemed to be causing mischief once again as they tried to get into Sam's cake for a slice before the candles had even been light. Legolas watched the hobbits from a distance, occasionally allowing him to smile when he saw the enjoyment on his former traveling companion's faces as the music played loudly and they danced around with the other hobbits-Gimli was also dancing with the hobbits and he was teaching them the Dwarvish folk dancing that would be performed on the mountains during celebrations.

The questions of why there was a necessity to celebrate the life of a friend once a year puzzled Legolas, as he thought that it would be more worthwhile to celebrate life every day and not just restrict it to one. Also the concept of celebrating one's birth seemed to confuse Legolas as he couldn't understand why the birth of someone would be important, but in Elvish tradition at least-it was the celebration of the coming of age for an elf that was celebrated and this would mark the beginning of archery lessons for an elf when they got their first bow and quiver. The only other time that elves would typically celebrate life in a large celebrations like a hobbit birthday, was the death of an elf and songs of mourning and candles being lit would last for at least three days, Legolas was always rather thankful that the three days of morning only happened on rare occasions. Of course Legolas was more in favour in seeing his friends but the concept of them only celebrating their life once a year didn't seem worthy enough for them. Legolas was so thankful for his friends and he thought the world of them but one day to celebrate their life didn't seen enough-they should of have a celebration of their life every day.

"You seem to look confused my friend." Aragorn said as he looked up from his parchment and he puffed a breath of smoke from his pipe in Legolas's direction. "It is a happy occasion but you look as if someone has taken your last arrow."

Before Legolas could reply to his companion, the dwarf had come back from the dancing and he was looking rather out of breath and his face had turned the colour of his long beard. Without saying anything, Aragon had passed him a full mug of ale –that was soon chugged down in one large gulp by the dwarf. "What is wrong with you Pointy Ear, are you worried that a Dwarf is going to beat you in the drinking game that I plan to have?"

Legolas chose to ignore the dwarves question as he had already known already that he was going to beat him in a drinking contest –as having to endure the loud parties that the elves had and that included being forced to drink the strongest wine that Aragorn had claimed to be stronger that what men make-Legolas had been somewhat immune to the ale that was used for the drinking games that Legolas had reluctantly took place and he only participated in just for the sake of his friendship with Gimli. Instead of that Legolas asked. "Do you ever wonder what the purpose of these parties are?"

"Why are you asking about parties, you should be celebrating!" Gimli responded.

"Elves do not celebrate life what men and hobbit do." Aragorn had replied. "There is no one big celebration once a year, they do it every day."

"So you have a birthday drinking contests every day?" Gimli grumbled as he placed down another mug on to the table with the foam from his drinking remaining on his upper lip. "No wonder I have been losing to an elf! You have been practising to beat me for about every day of your long life!"

"It is not like that my friend." Legolas said with his voice slightly louder than he had preferred, just so he could get heard over the dwarf who was furiously ranting on about drinking competitions. "Elves don't see the point in celebrating one day of being alive, we do it everyday-as life is that precious to us."

"So no everyday drinking games then?" Gimli lamely asked.

"No everyday drinking games." Legolas confirmed with a nod of his head, with his long hair falling down past his shoulders in a long blonde curtain. "I was just wondering what the purpose for a birthday was."

"A birthday is to let you know that you are loved by your friends." Sam said as he came into the corner where the members of the fellowship were and he was followed by Frodo, Merry and Pippin-the last two members had their mouths filled with birthday cake and Pippin was carrying two extra slices of cake in his hand. "Everyone needs to have a day to know that they are loved."

"You are only saying that because you got a kiss from Rosie Cotton." Frodo said with a smile on his face. "How long did it take to get you to get one of those?"

Sam had refused to answer and his lips had been sealed shut even tighter when Merry and Pippin began to make stupid noises and they had began saying Rosie's name in various silly voices just to get a blush out of Sam and it had worked. Legolas had let out a chuckle at Sam's expense-admittedly he had felt rather cruel doing so but he was rather sure that his laughter was more of one of happiness of seeing his friends rather than malice.

"Birthdays are to celebrate that one hasn't died in battle." Gimli had said in a proud voice. "I have managed to make it to past one hundred and forty years and counting and I have not been taken down on the battlefield."

"Longshanks over here." Sam said pointing in Aragorn's direction. "Is in his eighties and yet he is still fighting strong. I know all of the ages of our friends and yet we don't know your age Legolas."

Legolas thought for a moment and he tried to think of his age and he founding it rather difficult for some reason-mostly as it was difficult to figure out how one day had begun and had ended at times. Legolas knew for definite that he was considerably older than his companions, as he had seen acorns that were just planted into the ground grow into the might oak trees that were still in the ground these days. "I am not too sure, I have seen many seasons pass and come around again. I have seen most of the trees that you have seen in the forests, grow from small sprouts into the ground to the mighty oaks that they are today. I don't need a day for celebration then, as I celebrate life every day and I don't know the day of the day that I was placed upon this world."

"There is no point in celebrating the life of the elves, as the only time that elves do die is when they have an axe that is imbedded in their nervous system." Gimli had grumbled good naturedly, as he had lit up his pipe and he had begun to blow a smoke rings around.

After that the subject in birthdays had been dropped as the focus had been given back to Sam who had been asked for another dance with Rosie who had dragged Sam away from the group and started to praise his dancing ability-despite the fact that Sam had accidently stepped on her feet a few times while they were dancing and he had even tripped over her when they were spinning together. Legolas was rather thankful for the attention to have been moved away from him as he had never been fond of having all of the focus of the people that were around of him.

As Sam was being dragged along by Rosie into the dance, and all of the hobbits and the rest of his companions had moved their focus to the dancing, Legolas hopped that the conversation of birthdays would be forgotten about soon.

Gimli had guided Legolas into the Prancing Pony after several days traveling that seemed more pleasant due to the fact that the sun of the summer had began to make itself present and it was a much of a relief for Legolas who had missed being outside and being able to experience nature, even though he had enjoyed being in the Glittering caves with Gimli and despite the beauty the caves possed it still wasn't the same as being outside with nature and Legolas rather looking forward to be taking Gimli to the Fagon Forests just so he wouldn't be forced to spend the majority of a time in a dark cave. After spending some time in the caves, he and Gimli had decided to go on another adventure before they went to the Fagon forrest. In the honor of the late dwarf king Thorin 2nd and the desire to completely make amends with his culture and the elves, Gimli decided that on their latest adventure together, he would take Legolas to the lands of the Lonely Mountain and the Blue Mountains so that Legolas could fully experience Dwarvish culture and learn the languages while Gimli would eventually do the same as he and Legolas traveled to the Fagon Forest. Once the two companions had arrived in Bree as a rest stop on their way to the Blue mountains, Gimli had declared that he needed a drink and Legolas was going to have one even if Gimli had to drag him by his pointed ears into the Prancing Pony.

When Legolas had arrived into the Prancing Pony, he was somewhat surprised as from the stories that he had been told on his travels by Aragorn-who was a frequent visitor to the inn in his younger days-the Prancing Pony could be filled with life at times with many men and hobbits who were visitors of Bree and the residents of Bree itself who would gather around into the Prancing Pony to try the best beer that was in the whole world, However when Legolas walked into the inn, it was near empty. The only people who were in the inn where his former traveling companions who were gathered by the bar nursing tankards, but the moment that they saw Legolas and Gimli they had put them down and moved over to greet their friends.

"It is grand to see you again Master Elf and Master Dwarf." Aragorn said as he moved over to give both Legolas and Gimli's shoulder a firm clap as he saw them. "I would apologise from the lack of appearance from Gandalf, but atlas he is still visiting Tom Bombadil-well that is what it said in his letters."

"I am in the company of friends, one shouldn't complain about the lack of them." Legolas said.

"Well I am sure that we can here about all of his stories the next time we see him." Sam said over his tankard.

"Don't know when that would be though." Pippin trailed off.

There was a pregnant pause as the members of the group fell silent and Legolas felt a feeling of uncertainty in his stomach and he did the best that he could to push away the feeling of sadness that somewhat took over him as he realised that he didn't know when the next time he would see his traveling companions let alone just one absent one. Since the ring had been destroyed, life outside their band of brothers was beginning to take place again and it would be a matter of time before he would next see his companions-if he were to ever see them again. Even though he traveled with Gimli, it would only be a matter of time before they would go their separate ways and go off into their own adventures. Gimli had been talking about making a dwarf colony in the glittering caves and he would probably do it soon after their adventure together had ended. Legolas had never really thought about life after destroying the ring and he had walked around somewhat ignoring the fact that he would be without his friends one day and if it was not a lack of adventure it would be them leaving the world one way or another. Legolas thought that he would maybe be the one to leave as the urge to sail and go to the west was starting to become stronger.

Sam broke the silence and he picked up his tankard and coughed. "I think that we should make a promise now." He said in a loud voice with a somewhat sad look on his face."That no matter what happens to us and what paths we take with others or by ourselves, we will always be friends." The last part was said exclusively to Frodo who had turned pink after Sa had said the last part.

After they had clinked their tankards together and Gimli and Pippin were about to celebrate their toast with a song about friendship that the two of them were going to make up on the spot. Before either of them could get a note out, Frodo had quietly suggested that they move to another room just incase people decided to come in just so their song wouldn't be droned out by the antics of the other patrons of the inn.. The members of the fellowship went into the side room and Legolas led trailing behind all of them as he entered the room with wondering what his companions were up to.

Legolas looked at his former traveling companions with a look that was a mixture of somewhat shock and amusement at the same time, as he saw his friends standing by a long wooden table and placed in the middle of it, was a large cake that was covered in hundreds of candles, the cake was so big in size that could probably feed at least three families or at least one hungry Pippin. Even though Aragorn wasn't normally one for festivities, he was standing at the foot of the table with the hobbits with a smile on his face. Legolas turned around and Gimli who was standing beside him even had a smile on his face and he was wishing his best to him.

"You don't have to do this for me my friends." Legolas said, as he felt himself get led to the table by Gimli and pushed into the chair that was at the top of the table giving Legolas the view of the spread that was on the table; dark plump berries, Lembas, a selection of cakes and sweets from Hobbiton, including Mrs Bracegirdle's plum cake-which was smaller in comparison to the large birthday cake that was in the middle of the table, but it managed to still take up a lot of the room on the table. "I appreciate your kindness, but why have you planned a feast for me? I was not aware that I have done something that deserves one."

Aragon moved over to the head of the table and he placed a firm hand on Legolas's shoulder with a smile on his face. "We are celebrating the birth of a loyal friend and a valuable member in our fellowship. We might not know the day of which you were placed upon this land, so we are going to be making up for lost time."

"It was my idea." Pippin said, poking his head up from the cake that he was currently munching his way through the moment that Legolas had sat down at the table and when it was deemed appropriate to start eating. "But Frodo, Sam and Merry and the others helped. I just thought that it would be a nice thing to do."

"And if you start protesting about it Pointy Ear, I will embed my axe into your nervous system without a second thought." Gimli said as he took a puff out of his pipe and blew out a large smoke ring. "I think that even an elf can afford to have a bit of fun in their life, even if it is just the one time."

Legolas gestured to the table to get the rest of his companions to sit down with him, as if his friends had gone out of their way to plan a feast like this for him, they should have the right to enjoy it, plus there was so much food there that Legolas was rather positive that all of it wouldn't have gotten eaten and he would need some help eating it. Also Sam was looking rather longingly at the beer keg and it would be a shame not to let him have any. Tankards were soon filled up and before they had even had their first drink, Gimli was already shouting on about a drinking game and how he would not be defeated this time. Legolas barked out a laugh before raising his glass to toast his friends for their friendship. Once he had finished his toast, a new one was made by Frodo, who toasted to everyone how thankful he is to know Legolas and how his constant joyous spirit had been much needed during their quest to destroy the ring. Once he had heard Frodo's toast, Legolas's pointed ears might have gone slightly pink.

Once the banquet had been demolished with pippin eating the majority of the food. Even though Legolas had known the hobbits for a while and he was rather accustomed to their eating habits, especially when it came to matters such as their tendency to have second breakfast, he was still surprised with how much the young Peregrin Took could manage to eat without even the slightest sign of possibly exploding. Gimli kept shouting on about the drinking game rematch, however he was soon quietened down when Aragorn had reminded him that it was Legolas's birthday and he had the right to choose what activity to do.

Because he had the power to choose what activity that his friends would do, Legolas made the simple request to go on an adventure with his friends for a few more days to the Bindlebole Wood-due the fact that he had never ventured into there before and it would allow him to spend a few days with his friends without being disturbed.

Their small adventure seemed to disappear in a blink of an eye and it was soon time for the group to split up once more. Their adventure in the forest had been one of Legolas's adventures up to date as it was quiet and he was with nature. The only time that the peaceful silence had been broken was when a story of an adventure that had happened while the group were apart or Sam's loud noises of excitement as he saw all of the flowers and plants in the forest, and he had started to talk rather animatedly about what plants that we was going to try and grow at home and how he was going to do it much to everyone's amusement. The nights were spent feasting on cakes and the food that was left over from their feast and songs and poems were sung out into the dark nights where the stars managed to illuminate the sky so wonderfully that it made Legolas start singing an elvish song about nature that eventually had to be translated into Westron by Aragorn just so that the others could understand it. Even Gimli had a few songs in him during their adventure and Sam and Frodo would make up some poems and retell the poems that Bilbo had made up. It was probably the best adventure that Legolas had ever had and he had come to the conclusion that it was a rather good idea to be thankful of life everyday but it was even better to have one day to celebrate life when you were with friends as it made more memories.

"So until next time then?" Aragorn said as he fiddled around with his sword, breaking the tense silence that had been formed when their short adventure was about to end when the hobbits were on one bath, Legolas and Gimli were on a different path and Aragon was on one himself. All the paths led to different directions that they were going to take and it would lead them away from another until the next time that they were going to meet.

"I wish that we didn't have to do this again." Sam sighed, "It almost makes me think of our adventures together before and I almost miss them in away. "

"So you liked nearly being killed then?" Merry asked with a confused look painted across his features. "Or the fact that we were tired and cold most of the time?"

"No not that." Sam replied with a chuckle. "I mean just being with friends all the time and all of the poems and the songs. A hobbit tends to miss these things after a while and you just forget all of the bad things that happened on the journey. You just don't know when you will next be able to make a great story that's all."

"I think that you will be able to come up with a few more stories, Samwise." Aragorn said clasping him on the shoulder. "If you need assistance I believe that young Frodo can help you."

"Maybe you can write a story about this adventure that we just had." Gimli suggested stroking his long beard thoughtfully. "What do you think Legolas? He can call it 'The Thousand Year Elf's First Birthday.'"

"That sounds wonderful, I must read it sometime soon Frodo." Legolas said with a smile on his face.

"Well it is Frodo's birthday soon, and we are expecting you around for a party." Merry and Pippin said in unison.

"Well I suppose that I can't miss that out, can I?" Legolas replied. "I have a lot of birthday's to catch up on, and from what I have learned in the recent past is that they are a wonderful thing to have and the only thing that makes them better is having friends to go along with them."

As Legolas and Gimli started to walk along their own path to the Blue Mountains, Legolas wished for the first time that time would speed up just so he could see his friends again and experience another birthday as he had a lot of birthdays that he needed to have as it gave him the perfect excuse for his friends to be together once more, even if it was just for a short time, as the time apart made Legolas be even more thankful for his friends and with seeing each other on birthdays it had made Legolas more thankful as he had developed a liking for birthday cake.


End file.
